Italy minister says Iran statue cover-up 'incomprehensible'

ROME (AP) — Italy's culture minister has criticized as "incomprehensible" the decision to cover up naked statues at a Rome museum where Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was visiting, adding a new twist to the controversy that has dominated Rouhani's deal-making visit to Italy.

Culture Minister Dario Franceschini told reporters Wednesday that neither he nor Premier Matteo Renzi were informed about the decision, which was apparently taken by lower-ranking officials in a bid to avoid offending the visiting leader. The cover-up involved the placement of several wooden panels to shield nude statues at Rome's Capitoline Museums, where Rouhani and Renzi held a joint press conference Monday.

The measures made headlines across Italy and prompted some politicians to accuse the government of caving into "cultural submission."

In this photo taken on Monday, Jan. 25, 2016, wooden panels cover statues inside the Rome's Capitoline Museums. A decision by Italian officials to cover up ancient nude statues to not offend Iran's visiting president is drawing ridicule in Rome. Ahead of a press conference Monday with Premier Matteo Renzi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, wooden panels were erected around some Roman statues in Rome's Capitoline Museums. The museum says the premier's office wanted the statues along Rouhani's path to the press conference covered up. Renzi's office declined to comment. (Giuseppe Lami/ANSA via AP)

"I think there easily would have been other ways to not offend an important foreign guest without this incomprehensible choice of covering up the statues," Franceschini said. He spoke to reporters at the Colosseum, where he gave Rouhani a guided tour before the Iranian delegation left for France.

Rouhani, for his part, said the Iranians hadn't requested any such measures by saying "there were no contacts about this." But he seemed to appreciate the gesture.

"I know that Italians are a very hospitable people, a people who try to do the most to put their guests at ease and I thank you for this," he told reporters when asked about the cover-up.

Rouhani's visit was aimed at pushing Iran into a more prominent role on the world stage after the nuclear deal with Western powers ended most European economic sanctions on Tehran.

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Hee Kyoung Yoo, left, of Seoul, and her daughter Jeong Hyo Kim admire a marble statue of Dionysus at the Capitoline museum, in Rome, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016. A kind of " classics coverup " is causing a political flap in Italy, after ancient nude statues in a museum were hidden from view so the Iranian president would not take offense. The Capitoline Museums say the Italian premier's office decided to put wooden panels around the sculptures before Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke to reporters there. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Some of the marble statues that were covered up with wooden panels on the occasion of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's visit are seen at the Capitoline Museums, in Rome, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016. A kind of " classics coverup " is causing a political flap in Italy, after ancient nude statues in a museum were hidden from view so the Iranian president would not take offense. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)